Sharing our stories as we share our adventures of marriage, farm life, becoming first time parents and healing after losing our daughter.
Tuesday, 27 September 2011
Bring on the Holidays!
We'll I made it! Starting out teaching has been an awesome experience but it has been a lot of work too! I love my students and job but reaching the start of school holidays was definitely a moment of celebration! Mark has been working really hard as well so he is also taking some off while I am on vacation.
Yesterday we drove towards Melbourne to head to Phillip Island. There is a Penguin Parade there in which at sunset hundreds of tiny penguins come onto shore but unfortunately we did not have enough time to stay that late so we visited Cape Wilhiem. It was amazingly gorgeous! it was a bit cold but we are definitely going to come back in the summer! We took lots of pictures, enjoyed picking these wonderful solid black rocks that were strewed all along the beach. The water was a wonderful blue colour and the dunes were massive and covered in flowing long grass...in short it was a wonderful place...a must see for sure.
That night we drove to Melbourne to visit the fam- Rianna and Amanda and the rest of our friends from back home. Amanda(who is dating Mark's brother, Bernie) arrived on Friday morning after being in Vancouver for 3 days. She is planning on working on a farm- either horse or dairy and is currently talking to lots of farmers, handing out applications and plans to visit a dairy farm in Shepparton this week. She also plans to stay until April and will do some travelling in March. It was nice to see her and were glad we get share the Aussie experience with her!
Today we are going to the Victorian Market and to the Melbourne Show. The Melbourne Show is somewhat like the Royal Winter Fair but has more carnival rides. It also has nightly fireworks, concerts and other attractions. And because we are in Melbourne we plan to do some shopping- birthday shopping- as our birthdays are coming up and the best shopping is in the city. The weather has been nice this weekend so that also makes things better!
We plan to do some travelling and visit the Great Barrier Reef- but were still looking into that! Anywho its been a great weekend!
Enjoy the pics!
Wednesday, 21 September 2011
Workin'
The weather here is getting much nicer and the other day I actually got a little burnt- we hope that's an indication that summer will arrive early and that it will be nice and warm! We have both been very busy- working a lot! Which also means were well on our way to saving up travel money for later! : )
We haven't been up to much lately but this past weekend Mark decided to work so he could take some time off while I have school holidays-which start next week...very exciting! I decided to go to the local footy final with a girl named Jae-a student teacher met at Bundalaguah. Local footy is known as the "best" footy and because it was the final game for two local teams; it was pretty busy, loud, and even tense! The game was between Sale and Glengarry. Sale won with just 19 extra extra points! It was a great game and I met lots of new people.
After the game we celebrated at the Sale City football club and Mark joined later as well. The next day Mark and I traveled to Seaspray to check out the Ninety Mile Beach. It was a bit windy but the beach was very nice. We watched some locals who were surfing, played some Boccie Ball, and read. We can't wait to visit when the weather gets a bit warmer.
The farm Mark is working on is beginning to irrigate and the other day 35 calves were born! He is still working on getting a position with an AI company so were keeping our fingers crossed for that. I am still teaching everyday and loving all the amazing experience! I have two weeks of school holidays coming up, so were thinking about what we might like to do!
We haven't been up to much lately but this past weekend Mark decided to work so he could take some time off while I have school holidays-which start next week...very exciting! I decided to go to the local footy final with a girl named Jae-a student teacher met at Bundalaguah. Local footy is known as the "best" footy and because it was the final game for two local teams; it was pretty busy, loud, and even tense! The game was between Sale and Glengarry. Sale won with just 19 extra extra points! It was a great game and I met lots of new people.
After the game we celebrated at the Sale City football club and Mark joined later as well. The next day Mark and I traveled to Seaspray to check out the Ninety Mile Beach. It was a bit windy but the beach was very nice. We watched some locals who were surfing, played some Boccie Ball, and read. We can't wait to visit when the weather gets a bit warmer.
The farm Mark is working on is beginning to irrigate and the other day 35 calves were born! He is still working on getting a position with an AI company so were keeping our fingers crossed for that. I am still teaching everyday and loving all the amazing experience! I have two weeks of school holidays coming up, so were thinking about what we might like to do!
SALE WINS! |
90 mile beach |
went shell collecting! haha |
Very windy but beautiful! |
Wednesday, 7 September 2011
Small Spaces
This past weekend Victoria experienced some beautiful weather and it was also Mark’s weekend off from the farm—even better! We have both been very busy with work lately! I have recently gotten a little busier because I lucked out on getting another teaching contract which now has me teaching every day.
On Wednesday, Thursday’s and Friday’s I work at Bundalaguah Primary School just outside Maffra. Wednesday’s I teach Prep/1/2 spelling, prep/1/2 ICT(computers/building), prep/1/2 Art, and ICT and Art for the 3/4 class. On Thursdays I teach grade 3/ 4 spelling and maths. Do cooking with the prep/1’s and 2’s and then go back to the 3/4 class for the afternoon. On Fridays I teach the 5/6 class all day. It can seem kind of confusing at first-knowing where to be, keeping track of yard duty- but moving into my third week I now have become more organized.
On Tuesdays I am at Araluen Primary School in Sale, where I teach Prep P.E (Gym), and then do P.E for two 1/ 2 classes. In the afternoon I am in a 1/2 class where I take part in Discovery Time which is integrated learning /activity time.
On Mondays I am split between Araluen and Bundalaguah (The principals of the two schools are married so I am shared on Mondays-funny , I know!)
Now back to my point about the nice weather and having the weekend off...with no plan in mind we began driving East, we knew the beach was in same direction so in a way we at least knew checking out the beach would be a good idea. We arrived at Lakes Entrance beach after an hour of driving and walked along the boardwalk. It was a very nice town! We ate at a seafood restaurant on the water, which overlooked the many boats, the food was very good, I also tried fish I never had before and loved it!
We had spotted a flyer on Buchan Caves and thought it might be a cool trip so we headed there-it was still a little too cool for the beach. Buchan caves are located in one of Victoria’s National Parks(Buchan Reserve). The park also has really good camping that we hope to come back to.
The caves themselves were formed by underground rivers cutting through limestone rock. The formations were then created by rain water seeping through cracks and dissolving some of the limestone. As each droplet comes through the roof it deposits calcite which crystallizes in a small ring. In time, stalactites are formed on the roof of the cave, and stalagmites build up from droplets which fall to the floor. We were only about 50-60 m below the ground, and it was roughly 20 degrees in the caves. It was a very good tour and it was very neat to see all of the formations. Some of the stalactites were HUGE! There were also some very tiny spaces to squeeze through.
After our cave tour we headed to Melbourne to visit Rianna and Kendra. We arrived at about 9pm and then headed out to the bars. Rianna had previously returned from her field hockey party where she won the international recruit award! The next day Mark and I headed to the 4x4 exhibition at the Melbourne Convention centre, more of a man’s thing but it was neat to see some of the huge campers/trailers! We finished the day off with some retail therapy at the DFO- which is a shopping centre filled with outlet stores- very good shopping!
It was a jam packed weekend, but very successful! Enjoy the pictures!
Lakes Entrance Beach |
Delicious seafood restaurant |
We toured the Royal Cave at the Buchan Cave Reserve |
The caves were very neat! |
WILD Kanagroos!!! |
The scenery was wonderful in Buchan! |
The best park we've ever been to! |
There was even a zip line there! |
Melbourne for the weekend- Nicole, Me, Kendra, Leanne,and Rianna |
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